Combined fire and police alarm



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 (No Model.)

J. 0. HENRY.

GOMBINED FIRE AND POLICE ALARM.

Patented Mar. 18, 1884.

lnv enior:

Jbh n, 6' Henry,

(No Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 2.

' J. C. HENRY.

UOMBINED FIRE AND P OL I GE ALARM.

Patented Mar. 18,. 1884;

I nvenZor 7172 -C Hrqy,

(No M01161. 3 SheetsSheet 3. J. C. HENRYE COMBINED FIRE AND POLICEALARM. No. 295,249. Patented Mar. 18, 1884.

.17 files t: Z7606 nZo r:

' Jahn C Hemy,

STATES err-E rricn.

. CGMBiNED FIRE AND POLICE ALARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent lilo/295,249, dated March18, 1884.

Application filed August 30, 1853. (No model.)

To all whom zit may concern.-

Be it known that I, J OHN G. HENRY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Kansas City,-in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Combined Fire andPolice Alarm, of whichthe following is a specification. v v r Myinvention has for its object to provide a signal-box which shall requirea minimum of intelligence in theperson sending the message,

, and enable thet-ransmissi on from the same box,

and by the employment of the same automatic make-and-break device, of atleast two distinct calls or signals, one of which may be thesignal forfire and the other police. To this end I provide a signal-box with ahinged door'on each side, each of which doors is connected by a suitablerod or lever with a weight or spring of aclock mechanism in such mannerthat by the opening of either door the weight will be raised. or thespring wound, (as the case may be,) in readiness to actuatethemake-andbreak mechanism when permitted to do so by the closure of thedoor. Thedoor for sending either thefire or police call is provided witha separate make and break for sending one or any number of impulses ofcurrent to line to effect a shifting of the dial of the indicator at thecentral station, one or any number of spaces additional to thoseatfected by the main make and break which alone is operated .by theother door. The actuating-weight being raised to potential position bytheopening of one of the doors, it is there held until by theclosure ofsuch door a catch is released, allowing the weight todescend to operatethe. make-and-break device.

-In order that my invention may be'more fully understood, I will proceedto describe it with reference to the accompanying drawings,

. in which- Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the view thereof,taken on the line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig.

i 3 is a vertical sectional View taken at right angles to Fig. 1. Fig. 4is a face view of the indicator, part of the dial being broken away toshow the interior mechanism.

1 is the box or casing containing improved signal apparatus, havingsuitable means, 2, (which may be either an aperture or bindingpost,) forthe passage of the electric conductor. Each side of the box is providedwith a 7 door, 3 3, hinged at its upper end to the box, and provided atsuch upper end with a ratchetsegment, 4 4, adapted to engage a gravityor spring catch, 5 5, and thus prevent the closure of the door, whenonce opened, until it has been lifted to its extreme position and thecatch is allowed to fall back to vertical position at the end of theratchet. The rattling noise made by the pawl or ratchet 4c 5 will alsoserve as an alarm to those in the neighborhood, notifying them oftampering with the box.

, Pivoted at 6 6 to the segments 4. 4 are connecting-rods 7 7, slottedat their inner ends for the reception of the pins 8 8, on the upper andlower ends, respectively, of the rocking lever 9, which is pivoted at 10to the side of the casing. The weighted lever 11 is hung from pivot 12,and adapted to be operated by rocking 1ever9 through the medium ofconnecting-rod 18, pivoted at one end to the pin 8 of said lever. Theweight 14 is adjustable, to regulate the leverage of the arm 11. Saidarm bears a pivoted dog, 15, held by spring against the toothed wheell6- t-he first of a train of gears adapted to transmit motion'to themake-and-break mechanism. It will now be seen that as either door 3 3 isunlocked and opened to the position shown in the dotted lines, Fig. 1,the weighted arm 11 will be gradually lifted until the door has reachedits highest point, the pawl 15 meanwhile slipping loosely over the teethof the wheel 16. The weight now stands ready to fall and drive thetrainfor actuating the make-and-break device. The shifting of the rod 7by the closure of the door will not disturb the weighted arm 11. as theslotted arms 7 7 will ride over the pins 8 8 without disturbing thelever 9.

The release of the train is, however, effected by the following means:The notched wheel 17, adapted to be driven by the weighted arm 11,through the train of gears 16 18 19, is provided with a pin or stop, 20,adapted to bear,

for stopping the train, against a lug, 21, on'

. position of engagement with the pin 20. The

lower end of rod 22 is flattened into theform ot' a plate, 26. Slidingrods 27 27 have bearing in supports 28 29, fixed to the base of thecasing. Surrounding the rods27 27 are spiral springs 30, having abutmentagainst the supports 29, and serving, by bearing against the fixedcollars 31 on the rods 27 27, to constantly force said rodsoutward'against the doors 3 3. The inner ends of the rods 27 27 areformed with cut-away portions 32, to receive the plate 26, permittingthe free movement of said plate independently of either rod when beingoperated by the other rod. spring-staff 22 slight freedom of rotarymovement in either direction, under the control of spring '25, the head33 of either rod 27 27 is allowed to'slip past the plate on the'openingof either door 3, the plate being only slightly deflected and the log'21 turned "in toward the notched wheel 17 without releasing "the stopof "said wheel. The plate 26 springs 'i-mnie'di'atel'y back to place onthe passage'of the head, in readiness to engage such head when the rod27 or 27 is again pressed in by the closure of the door, The :plate 26and rod 22 are thus on the closing of the door given a slight rotation,the lug 21 thus disengaged from the pin 20, and the weighted arm '11allowed to fall, driving the train 16'18 19,'a'n'd rotating the notch-edwheel 17 until by the springing back of catch 22 21 its-motion isarrested.

A binding-post, 34,has electrical connection, by means of wire 35, withtheindicator'at the station, and also with a fiat spring, 36, ofsu'ffic'i'e'nt length to be engaged and vibrated by the teeth of wheel17. The end'of the spring 36 bears a vertical rod or plunger, 37,working in cup '38, which is partially filled with mercury covered withglycerine, andiwhich has electrical connection, as shown, withgroundplate 39. It will now be seen that by the rotation of the wheel-17 the plunger 37,

being-reciprocated vertically, will alternately make-and break contactwith the mercury of cup 38, and thus cause similar interrupt-ions of'the'current on the line operating'the arrow 50'of indicator 51, in theusual manner.

It will be seen that with mechanis-m'such-as above described the samenumber of interru'ptions of current, and consequently thesameindications on 'thediah'will be effected by the opening or closing ofeither door.

In order'to provide for the-sendingof 'dift'erent calls from each door,I make a branch from the line-wire at 40 by "means of springconduc'tor41, said spring being held'up inthe closed position of the door bysegment-arm 4;

but which, when "the door is being opened, falls "on contact piece 42,connected to the ground-wire, thus making the circuit and al-- lowingthe passage "of a continueus-eurrent'on the line and moving theindicator-arrow forward one space. When the door is closed,the contact41 42 is broken before the release of the train.

By afi'ording the pulse to line any ordinary make and break operated bythe door 3 for interrupting the current any desired number of times maybe employed. The supplemental make and break is preferaloly arranged tobe operated by the fire-door. In such a case, there being an even numberof teeth on the wheel 17, even numbers on the dial would be acallforpolice, and odd numbersindicate fire,the additional stroke for theodd numbers being always obtained by the make and break operated by thedoor. The continued current obtained by this supple'mental device alsoenables the insertion (preferably in a local or branch circuit, asshown) of an' alarm-bell, 43, which will give a prolonged alarm 'onlytoindicate fire.

For easy reading of the indicator-dial, the odd and even numbers may be'arrangechas shown, in separate concentric circles.

Additional gears 44 45 46 may be added to the train to drive a rotaryvane, 47, for moderating thespeed thereof. v

For'somepurposes levers may be substituted for the doors 3 3, theremaining parts-of the invention being in such case adapted "to oper-Vihatever novel subj ect-ma'tterI haveshown and described but notclaimed herein is 'reserved for claiming in future applications.

I am aware that it has been before proposed toset the alarm of afire-t'elegraph by means of a swinging door co'nn'ected with the windingmechanism. This, therefore, I do not broadly claim.

Having thus described my invention, the following is what I claim as newtherein and desire to secure by-Letters Patent:

1. In a signal-box having suitable line and ground connections, andwith. a make-andbreak device for giving the prescribed call from saidbox, a supplemental make and break for giving signals additional to theniain'call, and duplicate mechanism, both adapted to operate the maincircuit-breake'r,'and one the supplemental circuit-breaker in addition,as set forth.

2. In a signaling apparatus, the "combination, with asignal-box havingm'eansnf sendi'ng, in addition to the regular cal-l, a'p'reliminaryorsub'sequent impulse of-some'd'uration, the indicator, and alarm, thelatter being adapted to be operated only by the supplemental call, assetforth. 3. Aneleetricsignal-bo'x provided'with'two independently-hingeddoors or levers, each connected with and adapted to "operate the regularcall through the medium of intermediate mechanism, and one of said doorsor levers having a separate make-and-break idevioe 'for sendingadditional impulse or impulses to line, substantially as set forth.

Ina signal-box, the combination, with a weighted arm or spring and atrain adapted to be driven thereby to transmit the call, of twoindependently-movable levers or doors, so connected with such weightedarm or spring as by being lifted to set the same in position for drivingthe train, substantially as set forth.

5.. The combination of door or doors having means of connection to thecall mechanism, with segment rack or racks fixed to such door or doors,and pawl or pawls adapted to engage with such segment-racks until thedoor has reached its extreme position,substantially as set forth.

6. The combination, with one or more doors or levers, 3 3, of slottedconnecting-rods 7 7, rocking lever 9, conneotingrod 13,and weighted arm11, substantiaily as and for the purpose set forth.

7. In combination with door or doors 3 3, the train 16 18 19, andweighted arm 11, adapted to drive such train when set by the opening ofone or other of the doors, and the stop mechanism adapted to be moved bythe closure of such door, and thus release the train, for the purposeset forth.

8. In combination with a make-and-break wheel having suit-able means forrotating thesame, and stop or pin 20, the spring-rod 22, having stop-lug21 and plate or arm 26, and the spring rod or rods 27, adapted torelease the stop mechanism when the door is closed, substantially as setforth.

7 JOHN G. HENRY Witnesses:

J. L. MITGHELL,

A. A. CLAPP.

